Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Pakatan says Umno taking after Hitler

By Shannon Teoh

November 29, 2011Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 29 — The federal opposition accused Umno today of “doing the same as Hitler” after its information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan said Malays will lose their rights and power should Pakatan Rakyat (PR) win more seats in the next general election.

The deputy minister said at a forum this morning that “the Malay language will be lost, say goodbye to the Malay Sultans ... say goodbye to Islam” if the opposition gains more power as DAP “do not respect the royal institution ... (and) are agents of Christianisation.”

DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng said today the statements by Datuk Ahmad Maslan could be compared to those of Adolf Hitler and Joseph McCarthy. — file pic

DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng told The Malaysian Insider that the remarks were seditious and would raise racial tension.

“This is the same thing Hitler raised about the Jewish threat and internal enemies,” the Penang chief minister said referring to Germany’s World War II leader Adolf Hitler whose Nazi party perpetrated the Holocaust, the genocide of an estimated six million European Jews.

The Bagan MP also said that “Umno wants to play the role of the new McCarthy,” referring to former US senator Joseph McCarthy, the face of anti-Communism in the US in the 1950s who was censured by the Senate for being unable to substantiate claims of Communist subversion that fuelled Cold War fears.

“This will lead to the persecution of innocent people with no regard for the sanctity of the rule of law,” Lim said.

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said Ahmad’s remarks showed Umno is “still stuck in its racist agenda” and “cultivating a culture of fear” ahead of a general election expected early next year.

“We will work even harder to secure a majority in Parliament,” he said in response to the Pontian MP’s claim that a “hung parliament” would result in the worst-case scenario for Malays.

Datuk Ahmad Maslan claimed today that a “hung parliament” would be the worst-case scenario for Malays. — file pic

Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad said the statement was “obviously trying to bait us in PAS” after Ahmad said PAS should join Barisan Nasional (BN) instead of “consorting with DAP.”

“This is the worst kind of forked tongue speak. How do they say the same to MCA, MIC and Gerakan?

“Closer to the finishing line, they are banking on Malay votes, having given up on the Chinese and Indian voters, and are falling back on and targeting the rural Malays, those in traditional kampung who don’t have access to new media,” he said.

He added the ruling party is now “confused by the aspirations of the progressives” like its president Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.

“I’m sure they (Khairy and Saifuddin) are cursing him right now,” the PAS research chief said.

PAS’s former Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin, whose government had a DAP majority, also said the move was to “increase fear among Malays” despite “Guan Eng already saying it was impossible to have a Chinese prime minister.”

Ahmad had claimed the threat of “Malays losing power” was very real as the Chinese community was slowly gaining control of the country’s politics and economy.

Umno is currently holding what is likely to be its last general assembly before a general election expected early next year.

Prime Minister Najib is said to need a marked improvement from the last polls to retain his position as only a return of Barisan Nasional’s customary two-thirds majority of Parliament can guarantee he remains in office.

BN ceded 82 federal seats and five state governments to the opposition in the landmark March 2008 election.